All for sports!

It’s Monday morning and like many of you I’m sipping coffee, working on my MAC and catching up on emails. I look around our rustic SODO office and take in the scene – just barely 8AM there is already a buzz around the office (made possible by our open floor plan) as we try to catch up with our counterparts on the east coast. The early mornings, nationwide offices and virtual meetings, I imagine, are typical of most startups.
What isn’t typical is the lifelike Fatheads of youth athletes (and our kid’s) on the walls, the jerseys hanging above our customer service department or the EPSN books on everyone’s desk. This startup is 100% focused on sports – youth sports. 10 years ago this would be unimaginable – mod soccer as a novel business idea?
But as we all know, the wide world of youth sports is growing at a rapid rate. There are 3 million kids playing US Youth Soccer every year. There are tens of thousands more playing US Club Soccer and AYSO. And while astonishing, it’s not surprising! When I was growing up, we were lucky to field an A and a B team – now there are four and sometimes five teams for each age group. And it was pretty typical so start playing Select or Premier in 4th grade…now you start in 2nd.
We’ve discussed what this means for players and the growth of the game, but what does this mean for parents? They are the ones driving the carpool, writing the checks, substituting family vacations for soccer tournaments and helping their kids balance school, sports and social lives. What challenges do parents face managing their kid’s soccer lives?
Please, do tell! We’ve launched a 10-minute survey to gain more insight into the lives of busy soccer parents. How do you organize your soccer life, communicate with the coach, manage the time commitment placed on your kids and weigh the costs associated with participating? Do you share your kids’ soccer lives through social media? What health, wellness, behavioral and development benefits do you hope your kids will gain?
By participating in the survey you’ll automatically be entered to win an iPad 2! Your feedback will also help us develop our product roadmap and educational content. Help us help you help your kids!
Thanks in advance for your time.